Free Miners are an intriguing and important group of Forest of Dean. "All (male) or female as of late news, persons born on or hereafter to be born and abiding within the said Hundred of St Briavels, of the age of twenty one years and upwards, who shall have worked a year and a day in a coal or iron mine within the said Hundred of St Briavels, shall be deemed and taken to be Free Miners." extract from Dean Forest (Mines) Act 1838.For 700 years the Free Miners of the Royal Forest of Dean have mined. It was the skill of their forefathers in tunnelling under castle fortifications that earned them the right, by Royal decree, to mine anywhere in the forest without hindrance.
The cache is a snap snap tub and just off the main path way near the free mine,from here to HW5 the paths are a little bit uneven,follow the path on your left just after the mine.
Placed With Kind Permission From Forestry Commission.